EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (hereinafter as ‘the Directive’) adopted ecosystem-based management with aims to attaining a good environmental status, which could shed light on the development of marine ecological civilization in China. This paper analyzed the components of the Directive and its indicators, and highlighted the similarities and differences between the Directive and China's marine ecological civilization. Recommendations were made at the end that China's marine ecological civilization, in the light of the practice of the Directive, particularly its coordination mechanism, should integrate all its relating components into a coherent and interrelated system, and improve the participation of the public as well.